Hailstorms Across the Nation

Transcription

1 Hailstorms Across the Nation An Atlas about Hail and Its Damages Stanley A. Changnon David Changnon Steven D. Hilberg Illinois State Water Survey Contract Report 09-12

2 Hailstorms Across the Nation An Atlas about Hail and Its Damages Stanley A. Changnon Illinois State Water Survey David Changnon Northern Illinois University Steven D. Hilberg Midwestern Regional Climate Center Contract Report Illinois State Water Survey A division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability Champaign, Illinois

3 Cover photo: A large hailstorm in Illinois. Published November 09 This report was prepared and published by the Midwestern Regional Climate Center, based on support from the National Climatic Data Center and the Illinois State Water Survey. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Illinois State Water Survey. Illinois State Water Survey 24 Griffith Drive, Champaign, Illinois University of Illinois Board of Trustees. All rights reserved. For permissions, contact the Illinois State Water Survey. Printed with soybean ink on recycled paper

6 Abstract This atlas addresses the climatology of hail in the United States. The information has been assembled from diverse sources from the past 80 years, and includes results of research conducted specifically for this document. Climatological descriptions of the various hail conditions that cause damages to crops and property also are presented, as well as assessments of hail-produced losses. The nation s areas of greatest hail frequency are along and just east of the central Rocky Mountains where point averages vary between 6 to 12 hail days per year. The lee of the Rocky Mountains has the nation s greatest hail intensity with the largest average stone sizes, the highest average number of hailstones, and the longest hail durations. The nation s lowest hail intensities are found in the southeastern U.S. (Florida) and in the southwest (Arizona and California), areas where hail occurs only once every two or three years. Winds with hail tend to be strongest in the central and southern High Plains, the location where property-hail damage is the nation s highest. Hail risk to crops and property is characterized by enormous variability in both space and time. Exceptionally large hailstones, those exceeding 2 inches in diameter, can occur anywhere it hails in the U.S., but are most frequent in southeastern Wyoming (once every five years) and least frequent in the low hail frequency areas (only once every 100 years or less often at a given point). The extent of hail damage results from hailstone sizes, the number of hailstones per unit area, and winds with hail. Hail causes considerable damage to U.S. crops and property, occasionally causes death to farm animals, but is only infrequently responsible for loss of human lives. The average annual frequency of days with crop-damaging hail in the U.S. is 158 days, and the average annual crop loss is $580 million. The average annual frequency of days with hail damages to property is 123 days, and the average annual loss total is $850 million. Each year, on average, the nation experiences 15 days with property losses exceeding $1 million and 13 days with crop losses exceeding $1 million. Hail is a threat in most parts of the nation. The risk of property damage across the nation varies from an index value of 1 in the southeast to a high of 50 (Colorado, Kansas), and the indices of risk of crop damage vary from a low of 1 in the eastern Midwest and East to a high of in the western High Plains (Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado). Hail that is damaging to crops differs from that damaging to property. Various crops can be damaged by small stones, whereas property damage occurs only when hailstones exceed 3/4 inch in diameter. Distributions of hail damage vary considerably with most damages occurring in 5 to 10 percent of all storms, and most losses occurring in only a small portion of an area experiencing hail on a given date. Hail frequency and crop-hail intensity conditions change significantly over time with a tendency for low hail incidence in 60 to 80 percent of the years, and exceptionally large losses in 5 to 15 percent of the years. The temporal variability of hail loss is greater in the High Plains states than in states in the Midwest, East, or West. The magnitude and frequency of hail shifts up and down randomly over time, but the primary spatial features of hail (areas of extremely high or low incidence of hail in a region) persist from decade to decade. Hailstorms extremely damaging to property show an upward trend with time, and the two most damaging storms in the U.S. have occurred since 00. Nationwide trends in crop-hail losses, in property-hail losses, and in the number of hail days are either flat or slightly downward for the period, and do not suggest any climate change influence. v

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8 Studies of Hail at the Illinois State Water Survey Survey scientists in the 1950s began assessment of historical records of thunderstorms and hail in Illinois using records of Weather Bureau volunteer weather observers who were mandated to make daily records of temperatures and rain and only asked to report weather conditions like hail (Changnon, 1967a). The resulting data providing detailed historical information on hail (Changnon, 1962) caught the attention of the expanding crophail insurance industry that was trying to assess loss potential and develop better rates for Illinois and all other states. Thus, they began funding the Survey to do research into hail in 24 other states (Changnon and Stout, 1967), and to study the dimensions of severe hailstorms in Illinois (Changnon, 1967b). The insurance industry also funded extensive Survey studies of small-scale variations in hail, and the Survey established four dense networks of hail-sensing instruments in Illinois (Changnon, 1968). These instruments were designed and built by Survey scientists, and they determined counts of hailstones and their sizes, plus the angles of windblown hail (Changnon, 1973). Another new instrument was designed and it recorded the temporal occurrence of hailstones, the nation s first ever hail-recording device (Changnon and Mueller, 1968). In the 1960s the Soviet Union reported they had a technique that suppressed hail and reduced hail damages. Therefore the U.S. government pushed to develop hail-suppression methods for use in the U.S. Survey scientists designed a national experiment conducted in Colorado (Schickedanz and Changnon, 1971), and the Survey took numerous surface hail-sensing instruments to Colorado for this project. Survey scientists also designed and built with National Science Foundation (NSF) funds the nation s first dual-wavelength radar designed to detect hailstones in a thunderstorm, and this became a key part of national hail projects (Mueller and Morgan, 1972). Survey scientists were funded to design a major hail-suppression project for Illinois (Changnon and Morgan, 1975). The Survey was also funded by NSF to assemble a national team of scientists of various disciplines to conduct a national study of the economic, environmental, and political consequences if a workable hail-suppression system existed in the U.S. (Changnon et al., 1978). Survey studies during the era found that large urban areas, such as Chicago and St. Louis, affected the atmosphere sufficiently to lead to increases in rainfall and hail over and beyond the urban areas (Changnon, 1978b). A scientific study of how Lake Michigan affected weather found that in the fall the warm lake led to more hailstorms east of the lake in Michigan (Changnon, 1966a). A study of the weather effects of a large hilly area in southern Illinois found it led to more hail (Huff et al., 1975). Survey scientists pursued studies during the 1970s of major damaging hailstorms occurring in Illinois to provide guidance to the insurance industry (Changnon and Wilson, 1971). Also included were field and laboratory studies of the various hail characteristics (stone sizes, number, and winds) that caused crop damages (Changnon, 1971). These studies were followed by a similar study of conditions creating damage to buildings, roofs, and vehicles (Changnon, 1978c). Crop insurance problems and high costs of loss assessment led Survey scientists to propose a project to assess crop losses using aerial photography, and infrared film was found to allow accurate measurements of losses across crop fields, a major breakthrough (Towery et al., 1975). vii

9 A study in the s concerned developing a technique that predicted future crop losses, and Survey scientists devised such a method allowing 90 percent accuracy in loss estimation 6 to 12 months before a season (Neill et al., 1979). An indepth assessment of hail in Illinois was conducted in the 1990s, summarizing the knowledge gathered over time (Changnon, 1995). Recent studies have focused on temporal fluctuations in hail events and losses across the nation, to assess whether ongoing climate change alters hail (Changnon, 08a). Survey scientists, by 08, possessed a vast amount of data and knowledge about hail in Illinois and elsewhere in the nation. Many documents from Survey research can be found in the references section of the atlas. This circumstance led to the preparation of this national atlas about hail and its impacts. viii

10 SECTION A: OVERVIEW

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12 1. Introduction This atlas presents information about hail in the United States. The information has been assembled from diverse sources from the past 80 years, and also includes results of research that the authors conducted to provide hail information for this document. Climatological descriptions of the various hail conditions that cause damage to crops and property in the U.S. are presented. For any given location and area these include how often it hails, hailstone sizes, number of hailstones per unit area, and winds with hail. This atlas should be useful for those involved in structural design, for insurance rate setting and planning for crops and property insurance levels, for reinsurance firms, for loss assessors, and for atmospheric scientists involved in severe weather studies. The building industry and construction regulatory bodies have long been concerned about obtaining hail information for use in building design and proper materials for roofing and siding (Morrison, 1997). Hail causes considerable damage to U.S. crops and property, and hail losses in the U.S. are the highest of any nation in the world (Hughes and Wood, 1993). Hail occasionally causes death to farm animals, but is only infrequently responsible for loss of human lives. A hail-related death occurred in 1979 when a large hailstone struck a child in the head (Doesken, 1994), and in 00 a hailstorm killed a person in Ft. Worth, Texas. Hail has caused only eight deaths in the past 70 years, but more than 50 persons were injured by hail in Denver in 1990, and over 0 persons were hurt by hail in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1995 (Hill, 1996). Hail damages all types of crops. The average annual frequency of days with crop-damaging hail in the U.S. is 158 days, and the average annual crop loss is $580 million. The average annual frequency of days with hail damages to property is 123 days, and the average annual loss totals $850 million. Each year, on average, the nation experiences 15 days with property losses greater than $1 million and 13 days with crop losses greater than $1 million. Hail kills many farm animals including chickens and sheep. Cattle are killed somewhere in the High Plains every year where large hail is common (Changnon, 1999a). Hail is a threat in most parts of the nation. Different crops are damaged in varying ways by hail. Tea, soybeans, and tobacco leaves are delicate and subject to serious damage even when small 0.25-inch diameter hailstones fall. Windblown hailstones of 0.5-inch diameter or larger cause serious damage to corn stalks and wheat stems. Fruit crops, such as apples and peaches, can be easily bruised by small- to moderate-sized hail and can lose great value because of reduced quality. Much of the nation s property damage from hail is to shingle roofs that are scarred by hail and must be replaced. Windblown hailstones of 0.5-inch diameter also cause significant damage to siding on houses and break windows of structures and vehicles. Metallic surfaces on vehicles and aircraft are susceptible to denting from hail that is 0.75 inch or larger. Such wide differences in hail conditions that cause crop and property damages require presentation of various types of information to adequately assess the climate of hail. Finding information about the climatic aspects of hail has been difficult for non-atmospheric scientists, not because there are major unknowns about the hail climate in the United States, but because much of what is known is widely distributed amongst diverse sources published over the past 80 years. Thus, hail information is hard to locate for those seeking a comprehensive description of the hail climatology for the nation. Other publications 3

13 have addressed the issue of hail climate in other nations including China, France, Italy, Canada, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, and Finland (Zhang et al., 08; Touvinen et al., 09; Dessens, 1986; Gokhale, 1975; Morgan, 1973). The focus of the information presented here is descriptive in nature. The report does not dwell in great detail on the various atmospheric conditions that cause hail. Instead, the emphasis is on providing, in tabular and cartographic formats, information that describes the spatial and temporal variations of hail across the United States over the past 100 years. The information selected also has been chosen with regard to assessing the potential for hail damage, a serious issue across most of the nation. The climatology of hail has been defined using data from four primary sources. First are the records of hail days, as defined by the weather stations of the National Weather Service since Second are the impact data on hail damages and their economic losses as derived from crop insurance records, and third are the hail loss data derived from property insurance records since the 1940s. Fourth are the data from special field studies typically focused on hail characteristics in small areas. These studies yielded many measurements but were conducted in only a few years. In describing the space and time aspects of hail, two basic characteristics that are important to the creation of hail damage are outlined: the frequency of the event, and the intensity of hail when it occurs. The frequency of hail is usually defined by the number of days with hail or number of hailstorm events at a point or over an area, for a month, season, or year. The intensity of hail is typically determined by the sizes and number of hailstones that fall at a given time and the associated wind speeds. As noted previously, levels of hail intensity that create damage vary greatly with the target. This atlas also presents considerable information on the impacts of hail, including the physical impacts to crops and property, as well as extensive information on the economic impacts of hail to agriculture and to property in the United States. A towering hail-producing thunderstorm. 4

14 2. Formation of Hail and Hailstorms Hailstones are pellets of ice created inside convective storms. The development of hailstones typically occurs 3 to 4 miles above the earth s surface where air temperatures are -40 degrees F or lower (Figure 1). There, the moist vapor in the updraft, the air moving upward inside the storm, condenses. The particles freeze and ice crystals, called embryos, form and become the heart of hailstones (Browning, 1977). Most hail comes from thunderstorms; however, only about 60 percent of all thunderstorms ever generate hailstones aloft (Changnon, 01). The growth of hailstones sufficiently large to reach the ground requires very strong updrafts, forces creating taller than usual thunderstorms (Brandes et al., 1997). Strong updrafts support the hailstones aloft and allow hailstones to grow, often to 1 inch diameter or larger, before the stones descend. If the falling hailstones enter another strong updraft, they can get carried aloft again in the moist air and grow even larger, and then fall again as a volume of large hail (Hughes and Wood, 1993). This repetitive growth process is reflected in the structure of hailstones that often shows layers of ice around their embryo. Figure 1. A sequence showing the development of hail inside a thunderstorm, then its descent and arrival at the ground after 4 minutes (T4). Its deposition forms a path of hail labeled as a hailstreak, ending after 14 minutes (T14). 5

15 The volume of hail reaching the ground falls at 135 feet per second, and usually is less than 10 percent of the volume of rain produced by a thunderstorm (Gokhale, 1975). Hail produced by many thunderstorms never reaches the ground because it melts as it descends into warmer air near the ground, becoming raindrops. That is why thunderstorms in warmer climate zones seldom produce hail at the ground. Severe hailstorms produce a large quantity of hailstones, typically more than 1 inch in diameter, and are a result of four atmospheric factors: 1. Strong convective instability creating strong updrafts. 2. Abundant moisture at low levels feeding into the updrafts. 3. Strong wind shear aloft, usually veering with height, enhancing updrafts. 4. Some dynamical mechanisms that can assist the release of instability such as the air flow over mountain ridges. When a volume of hailstones descending from a storm reaches the surface, the stones often cover an area 1 mile in diameter at the earth s surface. As the hailstorm moves over time, the falling hailstones produce an elongated area of hail called a hailstreak. Its size and shape depend on how fast the storm is moving and how strong the updrafts are inside the storm. A typical hailstreak is 1 mile wide and 5 miles in length. Most storms that produce hail generate one or two hailstreaks during their lifetime. Some organized lines of thunderstorms produce many hailstreaks with hail covering hundreds of square miles as the storms move across the terrain. Infrequently a thunderstorm becomes a well-organized giant and lasts for three or more hours. These supercell storms generate very large hailstreaks. Hailstorms occur in many parts of the world, including most parts of the United States and other mid-latitude nations. Atmospheric conditions causing hail-producing systems to form vary. Squall lines and low pressure centers at the intersections of warm and cold fronts create 41 percent of all hail systems in the U.S. Cold fronts alone cause 21 percent, warm fronts cause 14 percent, stationary fronts produce 12 percent of all hail systems, and 12 percent are from unstable air mass storms (Changnon, 1978a). The hailshaft descending from the base of a thunderstorm. 6

16 SECTION B: DATA AND ANALYSIS Four sources of hail data provide most of what is known about the climate of hail in the United States. One primary source of hail information is the historical records of the crop-hail insurance industry kept since 1948 for all areas where insurance has been sold. A second major source of data is the weather records of the many weather stations across the nation operated by the National Weather Service (NWS) since before 1900; another NWS-related data source is Storm Data, a publication issued since the 1950s. A third source of hail data is the property insurance records for 1949 to the present for the entire nation. The fourth major source of data is a series of special studies of hail, most of which were conducted during the period. These were instigated by special needs for hail information in hail-suppression studies, in designs of structures, in property insurance risk assessments, and in aircraft operations.

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18 3. Crop-Hail Insurance Data The crop-hail insurance database includes records of annual losses, premiums, and liability for each state. These data have been compiled on geographical scales of counties and thus offer considerable spatial information on the patterns of damaging hail. However, they are limited in certain respects: 1) data are available only for the period; 2) only hail that damages insured crops is recorded (limiting data to the growing season of a given crop); 3) there are major differences in a crop s susceptibility to hail damage during a growing season; and 4) data exist only for areas where insurance is sold (and varying coverage in an area affects how much hail is sampled ). One example of the problem inherent in these data is that a hailstorm of a certain intensity hitting an Illinois corn field in early June produces much less damage than the same storm hitting the same corn field in mid- July when the plants are much more vulnerable to damage, which greatly reduces yield. Furthermore, hail occurring between October and April (in most locales) is not recorded because there are no insured growing crops at that time. Different crops experience different degrees of loss from hail. The crop-hail insurance industry has sponsored extensive research dealing with hailstorms, including surface hailfall characteristics and their relationship to crop damages (Changnon and Fosse, 1981). The industry s research program has included field studies relating simulated crop-hail damage to amount of loss as a basis for developing procedures for loss adjustors to quantify field loss assessments. These involved purposeful damage to crops in various growth stages using hail cannons that propel steel balls or spheres of ice to simulate hailstones (Morrison, 1997), or the more commonly used mechanical defoliation and stem damage with hand-held instruments. The insurance data for have been adjusted for temporal changing liability (coverage), dollar values, and other factors by use of the loss cost. The annual loss cost value for a given state (for any crop or all crops) is determined by dividing the annual losses ($) by the annual liability ($), and multiplying the resultant value by 100. Adjusting for liability or coverage is very important for correctly assessing temporal variations in hail losses. Hailstones in a damaged wheat field. 9

19 4. National Weather Service Data The National Weather Service (NWS) has two types of weather stations that collect hail data: firstorder stations manned by trained weather observers, and cooperative substations manned by volunteer observers, whose primary responsibility is to make once-a-day measurements of temperatures and precipitation. The type of hail data collected by both types of stations is a day with hail. It is a single measure of whether it hailed or not without any other information. The first-order station data are considered of quality because they were collected during assigned observations by trained experts taken 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, there are only 250 such stations distributed across the nation. Conversely, there are nearly 16,000 cooperative substations, which greatly improve the sampling density for a day with hail. But since the observers are asked but do not have to report hail, only a limited number of these substations have been found to possess quality hail-day data. A technique was developed to assess whether the records of hail at each substation were accurate (Changnon, 1967a). This technique was first used in a series of studies of the hail data for substations in 26 states and conducted during Typically, to 50 substations in each state analyzed were found to have quality hail-day records lasting years or longer. A recent project assessed the nation s substation data for the period, examining for quality hail records, and identifying quality data for 1,061 stations in the U.S. (Changnon, 1998). These hail-day data have been extended to include all quality data during the period. The value of the NWS hail data is to measure the frequency of hail days spatially (on a monthly and annual basis), and to examine for long-term temporal fluctuations in hail days. Fortunately, a few of the thousands of volunteer weather observers have undertaken to report, over a period of years, the sizes of hailstones that fell. Several past climatic studies have been based on analyses of these NWS data (Henry, 1917; Lemons, 1942; Flora, 1956; Changnon, 1967a, 1978a). The hail-dented wall of a house. 10

20 5. Property Insurance Data In 1948 the nation s property insurance industry formed a group of specialists who had the responsibility of identifying all catastrophes, defined as events causing greater than $1 million in insured property losses. For each such event in 1949 and all following years, they collected data on the date/s of occurrence, the state/s where the insured losses occurred, cause/s of losses, and amount of loss (dollars) of each catastrophe. Catastrophe losses have been found to represent 90 percent of all weather-produced property losses in the U.S. (Roth, 1996; Changnon and Hewings, 01). Experts in the property-casualty insurance industry have systematically analyzed, in each year since 1949, the historical catastrophe data to update the past catastrophe loss values to match the current year conditions. This annual loss adjustment effort is a sizable and complex task, requiring assessment of each past event. Three adjustment calculations are made to the original loss value for the year and locations of each catastrophe. One adjustment corrects for time changes in property values and the cost of repairs/replacements; hence, this also adjusts for inflation. The second adjustment addresses the relative change in the size of the property market in the areas affected by the catastrophe using census data, property records, and insurance records. This action adjusts losses for shifts in the insured property between the year of a given storm s occurrence and the updated year. The third adjustment is based on estimates of the relative changes in the share of the total property market that was insured against weather perils in the loss areas, completed by using insurance sales records. These adjustments have been used to calculate a revised monetary loss value for each catastrophe so as to make it comparable to current year values. Thus, adjustments made in a recent year for all past catastrophes dating back to 1949 allow assessment of their losses over time (Changnon and Changnon, 1998). For example, a flood-related loss in Pennsylvania during 1978 was adjusted by insurance experts upwards by a factor of 31.3, whereas a 1978 flood loss in Oregon, where coverage and other conditions differed from those in Pennsylvania, was adjusted by In the resulting loss values, the loss from a catastrophe, whether in 1976, 1993, or 04, could be assessed in terms of the current economic conditions. Insurance data assessed herein were for the period. An assessment of the insurance catastrophe values using the temporal adjustment method found that demographic changes in various regions of the U.S. since 1949 were well related to the temporal adjustment values used by the insurance industry (Changnon and Changnon, 1998; Changnon and Changnon, 09). The National Research Council (1999) made a study of all forms of hazard loss data in the nation and found that the property insurance data were the nation s best. 11

21 6. Data from Special Studies of Hail There have been numerous research studies of hail and hailstorms often based on field collections of data for several reasons. Atmospheric scientists extensively investigated the potential for weather modification through cloud seeding during the period. As part of these studies, capabilities to suppress hail through cloud seeding underwent serious consideration. Several hail suppression experiments led to extensive field measurements of hail in a few locales (Illinois, Colorado, North Dakota, and South Dakota) where research projects were conducted (Schleusener et al., 1965; Changnon et al., 1967; Morgan, 1982). Studies of how large cities (Chicago and St. Louis) modify storms and hail also involved detailed surface measurements of hail during (Huff and Changnon, 1973; Changnon, 1978b). Concerns of commercial aviation and the U.S. Air Force about hail damage to parked and flying aircraft led to intensive field studies of surface hail in a few areas (Colorado, New England, and Illinois) during the period (Beckwith, 1957; Donaldson and Chemla, 1961; Wilk, 1961; Gringorten, 1971). Studies of the nature of severe local storms have also led to the collection of hail data in places such as Oklahoma and New Mexico in the 1970s (Nelson and Young, 1978). Weather modification and aviation studies often included surface hail measurement projects (Beckwith, 1961). Instruments used to sense hail were developed and installed often in dense arrays, which formed networks of varying sizes (Towery and Changnon, 1974). Most instruments used were passive sensors (hail pads, hail stools, or hail cubes), Two hail sensors. On the left is a hail stool and on the right is a hailpad. The hailpad is a 1-square foot piece of styrofoam wrapped in aluminum foil and supported on a stand made of angle-iron. 12

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